OTTAWA — The toxic soup that passes for air in Beijing is so bad, Canada's ambassador to China says he might need to upgrade the embassy's air filters.

"I am very preoccupied with the air quality in Beijing and how it impacts on our lives and those of our families," Guy Saint-Jacques told embassy staff in a January 2013 e-mail obtained by QMI Agency.

Saint-Jacques says he's asked for an analysis of the current air filtering systems at the embassy and staff living quarters, and has ordered staff to see whether more are needed.

"Based on that analysis, and if need be, I will send a message to Ottawa to ask on an urgent basis for additional money to cover the costs of purchase of any supplementary (air) filters," Saint-Jacques wrote in the e-mail.

He promised to tell Foreign Affairs about the air quality problems staff in China deal with.

Saint-Jacques also noted that no one will be breathing cleaner air in Beijing anytime soon "despite the best intentions of the Chinese government."

Saint-Jacques's e-mail came within days of air quality in Beijing hitting 755 on an air pollution index that considers 300 a dangerous level.

The chokingly bad air prompted even the Communist Party-controlled People's Daily to warn of a "suffocating siege of pollution."

The Chinese government admitted last month "emissions of atmospheric pollutants have long exceeded environmental capacity."

Only three out of 74 Chinese cities were in full compliance with state pollution standards in 2013, according to the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection.